Futbol 2020-21

[Wombatz]

Conte doesnt seem to have a clue, he's such a poor manager imo. Inter would do well to get rid of him sooner rather than later.

i'm not sure if he's really such a bad coach, but (like i said when poch did it) i think speaking about leaving the team, if only to gain political leverage, will cost you in team spirit/the dressing room.

it's always strangely hard for me to remember what players impressed me as a kid. partly that's because we had a shitty b/w tv so most games were between jerseys you couldn't tell apart in the drizzle. partly it's because hindsight gets in the way. partly it's because i never had a team that stayed in the first division for too long (apart from the couple of years as a bayern fan obligatory to any german kid born without family club allegiance). anyway: as i recently was reminded maradona never meant anything to me, now i am vaguely sad at the passing of paolo rossi. italy in 82, that was a team. probably we were in the summer holidays somewhere and had access to state of the art television.

[surfer]

Conte's a screamer. You're with us or against us, us against the world! You can tell just by looking at him. That might have an effect for a season, but players tire of that quickly. There's a reason he never stays anywhere for more than 2 seasons. As a tactical coach I think he's worthless.

Onto potentially another controversial opinion, is Paul Pogba the biggest waste of talent of his generation?

[surfer]

Onto potentially another controversial opinion, is Paul Pogba the biggest waste of talent of his generation?

Waste is probably too harsh a word. Unfulfilled potential. There's Balotelli. Actually Dimitri Payet comes to mind. Maybe Mario Gotze?

[Antoine]

The draw is happening next monday. Meanwhile you can have a look at the probabilities:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MisterChipin ... 5735026689

[surfer]

now i am vaguely sad at the passing of paolo rossi. italy in 82, that was a team.

6 goals in 7 shots on target. Wasnt even match fit!

[surfer]

How do you pronounce Szoboszlai?

[DarkAttraktor]

the hungarian SZ is the sound equivalent of the english S = soboslai (with that lai being prounounced more like the tai in subotai or the ray bit in galatasaray - its where you start to appreciate the euroasian steppe qualities of hungarian )

and when you have a solitary S then it makes the SH sound (ferenc puskás being ferenc pushkash). sounds a bit weird from an english perspective to have a digraph for a sound as basic as S but when you learn more of the language you see how much more they are into the SH sound than the S sound it kinda begins to make sense.

[Wombatz]

(so much for the cl season ... it'd still be fun if one could go to the stadium)

[Antoine]

ECL
Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER) vs Manchester City (ENG)
Lazio (ITA) vs Bayern (GER)
Atlético (ESP) vs Chelsea (ENG)
Leipzig (GER) vs Liverpool (ENG)
Porto (POR) vs Juventus (ITA)
Barcelona (ESP) vs Paris (FRA)
Sevilla (ESP) vs Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Atalanta (ITA) vs Real Madrid (ESP)

[Antoine]

EL


With an oldschool Red Star / Milan...

[DarkAttraktor]

With an oldschool Red Star / Milan...

three years ago they were tolerable. not quite simpatico but tolerable, you could theoretically root for them. nowadays with all the shameless, ridiculous over-protection they enjoy in the domestic league, criminals and well known embezzlers in the management board getting showered by public money and with that rightwing moron stankovic in the helm, they are posterboys of the vucic regime.

last but not least let us not forget their hooligan firms, drug dealers who are laundering money through the numerous (also taxpayer funded) construction and private security companies they registered in the last 4-5 years. these people are like legit businessmen now, went almost completely overground.

really wish them all the worst.

[surfer]

(so much for the cl season ... it'd still be fun if one could go to the stadium)

Drawing Liverpool is not the worst. VvD out for the year, Jota out for 8 weeks (that's a huge blow), and a heavy fixture pile up through the holidays while the Bundesliga goes on break. Liverpool drew with Fulham over the weekend, and it was not a fluke, Fulham outplayed them for long stretches. Lookman was excellent btw, he's been one of their best players recently. It was quite something to watch at the beginning of the 2nd half, Klopp absolutely apoplectic SCREAMING at his players to "WAKE UP" for close to twenty minutes. Just screaming for 20 minutes to WAKE UP. I think he's starting to lose his mind.

[surfer]

Spurs drew at Palace, and their keeper Guaita had what I think must be one of the saves of the year on a Dier free kick. https://www.caughtoffside.com/2020/12/1 ... al-palace/

In fact, not one of United/City/Spurs/Liverpool/Chelsea/Arsenal won this weekend, the first time that's happened in 4 years I think? This season will be a war of attrition, teams are pressing less and less, and a team like Liverpool doesnt seem to be able to play a semi-press effectively.

Arsenal lost to Burnley, and they now sit 15th. Xhaka had a straight red for putting his hands around an opposing players neck (after Xhaka fouled him!) and Elneny should have gone as well. Auba finally scored a brilliant flick on header . . . . . . . into his own net. It was well taken though.

[Wombatz]

(so much for the cl season ... it'd still be fun if one could go to the stadium)

Drawing Liverpool is not the worst.

well, then there is no possible worst right now at all ... contrary to many of the struggling top teams, i'd still expect liverpool to be able to turn it on for proper occasions, and over two games i don't have much hope given rats' tendency to crumble ...

many rats players don't do great elsewhere, keita is still totally wasted, and let's see how chelsea will put up with werner's innate profligacy in the long run, but now lookman looks good and cunha is ripping it up for hertha. these were rejected by nagelsmann, i wonder if that's a bad sign. the hasenhüttl story is something else ... it was always clear he was a good manager, though, he just refused to subscribe to a title hunt.

[surfer]

I'm watching Arsenal v. Southampton right now, and Walcott just scored against his old team (celebrating). It just gets worse and worse for Arensal, they are in bad shape and Lacazette looks so so shorn of confidence. Auba just looks depressed. Hasenhüttl is indeed a nice story. Not many managers could survive a 0-9 loss at home, but the board backed him, he never lost the dressing room, he is a good tactical coach, and his players buy into it. Plus he has really good players: Danny Ings is one of the best most clinical strikers in the PL. Mourinho tried to sign him. Ward-Prowse is the best dead ball specialist in the world, possibly since Beckham. He has a 12.5% conversion rate on free kicks which is the highest ever recorded by Opta. (a legit tactic for England at the Euros could be Kane drawing fouls around the box and JWP taking free kicks) Vestergaard has been great too. But like most nice things at Southampton, Hasenhüttl is probably due for better things soon. I rate him highly.

[surfer]

Edit now watching Juve Atalanta. Sad to hear there has been a falling out between Papu Gomez and Gasperini and that the situation is irreconcilable. Looks like Atalanta are going to try to sell him and Ilicic in Jan, which is a shame, he has meant a lot to that team and city and it might signal the beginning of the end for this iteratino of Atalanta.

Papu didnt start, he was subbed on at 53', and Atalanta scored at 57'.

Also Morata did this

https://streamable.com/tsl1p8

[Wombatz]

(so much for the cl season ... it'd still be fun if one could go to the stadium)

Drawing Liverpool is not the worst.

come again?

[surfer]

(so much for the cl season ... it'd still be fun if one could go to the stadium)

Drawing Liverpool is not the worst.

come again?

Ominous, though I didnt see any of it. Early games are on 0430 my time. Palace are usually tough at home too.

The match with Spurs was a curious match. In many ways, the score set the narrative. At the end of the match, it could have reasonably been any of the following scores, 1-1, 2-1 Spurs, 2-1 Pool, 2-2, 3-2 Spurs. That being said, Spurs did not look as comfortable absorbing pressure against Liverpool as they did against City and Arsenal, although Liverpool did not create many big chances. Opta had 4 Big Chances created by Spurs and 0 for Liverpool. xG was also in Spurs favor for the match as well. Deflected goal, header with extenuating circumstances. But those things are more likely to happen when a team has 80% possession in and around your box. The most troubling thing about the match was how well the youngsters Jones and Williams played. If they continue to put in performances like that then it will be difficult to catch Liverpool, admittedly.

Arsenal lose again, worst form in the PL outside of Sheffield United.

[surfer]

Well this match has been useful in helping me reset my expectations for this season. Its hard to evaluate individual Spurs performers when they have so few touches. I feel like Kane and Son get an Incomplete today.

Also a word for Brendan Rodgers: during his time at Liverpool I didnt think he was a good maanager, just lucky to have had great players. A legend like Gerard and a prime time Luis Suarez (one of the best seasons for a striker in the PL over the last 15 years. 31 goals. Sturridge his teammate was second in the league with 21). And when he left for Celtic I thought well anyone could win at Celtic, also they did awful in Europe. But he's been very good at Leicester which is not a club with a lot of resources. Today his gameplan was perfection and I dont understand why more teams dont counterpress like the foxes were doing. Leicester had a ton of possession but when they lost the ball they immediately swarmed in numbers and didnt let the midfielders turn because they were immediately surrounded. Leicester were very successful at winning the ball back quickly, and if they didnt, they immediately fouled, but were careful not to get too many yellows. we just could not get out of our own half except for long balls over the top. Its a very effective strategy. I wont harp on Aurier because he's been very good lately.

[Antoine]

Following a 4-0 win yesterday, Tuchel has been fired. Rumors announce Pochettino as the next PSG coach...